


residental community

by AmandaBecker



Series: second chances [4]
Category: Sanditon (TV 2019), Sanditon - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Falling In Love, Kissing, Love, Roommates, Secrets, Sensuality, Sexual Tension, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, Sidlotte - Freeform, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-19 02:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22703323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmandaBecker/pseuds/AmandaBecker
Summary: A party gets out of control and there's only one bed left..
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood & Sidney Parker, Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Series: second chances [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1629343
Comments: 20
Kudos: 81





	residental community

**Author's Note:**

> this is the fourth part of the # 6 days of Sanditon Valentines challenge by @sanditoncreative  
> prompt 'There was only one bed '.

"Hi, I'm Charlotte." Charlotte said as the pretty young woman opened the door to her potential new home.  
"Hi I'm Georgiana, everyone calls me Georgie, come on in."  
She led her into the lobby. It was spacious, but what immediately attracted Charlotte's attention was a large colorful painting on the wall.  
"Oh wow."  
"I am an artist. That's my brother over there. He poses for me sometimes.“ Georgiana grinned.  
"Ah." Charlotte was irritated, she had not immediately recognized a man in the painting, but on closer inspection she recognized a face.  
"I'll show you around, come with me."

A large spacious and very cosy kitchen with a small terrace was the heart of the house.  
"At least once a week we cook and eat together there.“ 

Therefore it was important for Georgiana and her two male roommates to find someone who was sociable and had no problems being with them.  
Adjacent to the kitchen was an equally comfortable living room or, as Georgiana said, 'the slaughter room'. There was a huge flat screen TV hanging on the opposite wall of the door. A huge sofa, two armchairs, a bookshelf and a narrow desk completed the interior.

"There's a room down here, Crowe just moved in." Georgiana explained.  
"Oh, I thought on the phone..."  
"Yes, actually the room was vacant, but since he always lay around down here anyway, when he came home drunk, Sid and I meant he should live down here" she giggled and went up the stairs. 

On the first floor, three doors led off the hallway.  


"This is the toilet." Georgiana points to the narrow door beside the stairs.  
"My room is up there, I'll show you later if you like."  
"Sure, I'd love to." Charlotte had already fallen in love, no matter how small her room was, she absolutely had to move in here.  
"My brother lives there.“ She points to the left.  
"And here would be your room."

She opened the door on the opposite and Charlotte immediately felt at home. It was huge. In a big L shape. There was a window oposite to the door, and in her mind she was already putting the furniture in place. She already had a picture in her mind of what it should look like.

"Here's the balcony," Georgiana opened the glass door, "you'll have to share that and the bathroom, but I think you'll be okay. Sid's really neat and tidy and I think that's part of the reason he banished Crowe downstairs." She laughed an enchanting loud laugh that infected Charlotte and put a big smile on her face.  
"Wow it's great!"  


Charlotte was surprised how spacious the bathroom was. There was a bathtub on the right side under a narrow window facing the balcony. Two washbasins with base cabinets, separated by a shower, lined the left side.  


"That used to be the door off the hallway, but a friend of Sid's put in the shower for us."

Charlotte was so overwhelmed that she only took in everything with astonished looks.  
"What do you think?"  
"Great." She joyfully returned.  
"Do you like art?"  
"Yes, I like to look at it."  
"But would you like to model for me?"  
"I erm..."  
"You've got one hell of a profile." Georgiana said and looked at Charlotte with a trained eye.  
"Thanks, sure, if that means I get the room"?  


Laughing, they climbed the stairs to Georgina's room.  
"Wow!" Was all Charlotte could say. It was an open apartment filled to overflowing with paintings, canvases, shelves of paint and paraphernalia. It smelled of paint and turpentine. Wood and another smell that she couldn't quite identify. A door led into a narrow but equally chaotic and cosy bedroom with an adjoining bathroom.  


"James did all this." Georgiana explained with a generous hand gesture, which included the whole room.  
"James?"  
"Yeah, Sid's buddy, the architect, and after..." a sad expression came over her face "well... it was a gift from Sid."  
"It's wonderful." Charlotte said and would have moved into the studio if necessary.  
"I see you're not intimidated."  
"Why should I?"  
"Some people can't handle it."  
"No I think it's wonderful."  
"So you're taking the room?"  
"Sure, I'd take any room here."

Georgiana laughed and gave Charlotte a short hug. She too felt that this girl belonged here. But most of all, she was happy to know that she was no longer the only woman.  
’Georgie, you'll find someone clever, I have faith that you'll just feel who suits us,' her brother had told her before he left for London.

*

When Sidney came home a few days later, he went to the fridge and made himself a sandwich. He put it on a plate and ran upstairs. Soft ranting from the room suggested the new roomate was having trouble putting something together. He knocked on her door and waited. As she ripped open the door full of energy, he almost choked. 

Oh! 

He didn't really like coveralls or overalls, they hide so much. But she wore a short T-shirt under her wide jeans and while she was moving, the tanned skin underneath was shining out. Her hair had piled up to a sloppy bun on her head and a few dark curls were hanging loose. Her big brown eyes looked innocent and sweet.

"Hi?" She asked with a sweet smile on her beautiful face.  
"Hi." He needed to breathe. Breathe!  
"You're Sid?"  
"Sidney." He pressed out.  
"Ah, hi, I'm Charlotte." She took his hand and he shook it briefly. They couldn't take their eyes off each other, and it wasn't until Charlotte seemed a little embarressed that Sidney let go of her hand.  


"You, erm, have some colour..." Raising up his hand and with his finger wiped the splotch of colour from her forehead and with this simple, yet intimate touch all her hair stood up. When he felt his fingers tingle, he pulled his hand back.

"Erm, yes..."  
"Thank you." She lowered her eyes shyly and pointed to the room.  
"I must be going..."  
"Need a hand?" He asked hastily.  
"I...honestly, that would be great." she laughed sheepishly "I can't figure out the drawers," pointing to a chest of drawers by her bed, which looked pretty huge for such a small person. Shit, she probably had a boyfriend.

"This fits right in here." He said casually.  
"Yes, I'm glad I could take it with me."  
"From where?"  
"From home."  
"It's... huge."  
"Yeah... well, I've..."  
"Yeah?"  
"A lot of brothers and sisters and everybody always wanted to sleep in my bed and well..." Their eyes met briefly, before she let her gaze sink back to the drawers.

No boyfriend, then. Great. No boyfriend. Yes, good. What? Why was that good? Irritated, he drove through his hair, then knelt down on the floor next to her and started helping her assemble the drawers.

*

At the end of the week they had their first meal together and all four were busy in the kitchen. Crowe mixed the cocktails, Georgiana prepared the side dishes and Sidney took care of the steaks. Charlotte put the dips on the table and when Sidney turned to Crowe to say something, he forgot what he wanted to say suddenly. She was wearing wide jeans that sat quite low on her hips and when she bent over the table her shirt slipped up a little and exposed her well-toned stomach.

"Don't forget to breathe." Georgiana said to him without looking up from her vegetable pan and he realized just in time that it was time to turn the meat over.  
The mood at the table was great and all four of them laughed a lot and later decided to have a movie marathon. The question of what they wanted to watch made Georgiana and Crowe discuss hot-headedly about art in film. Sidney and Charlotte took this as an invitation to clear the table and wash up. They talked about this and that and kept exchanging furtive looks.

It was a relaxed atmosphere and so the weeks passed slowly, during which everyone got to know each other better. And Sidney and Charlotte became friends at first and then realized, each on their own, that they were slowly falling in love. When Sidney came home from work early one day, he immediately went up to Georgiana's room because he had brought her a package from James.

"Oh, great, Sid, put it next to Charlie." Georgiana cried over her shoulder both hands full paint as she just made a drawing with her hands.  
"Hmm?"  
"Well there!" She pointed with her chin next to a painting that was on the floor. He put the package on the floor and couldn't take his eyes off the image. It sucked him in.  
"What do you think?" Georgina suddenly standing next to him use a cloth soaked in paint to roughly clean her hands. It surprised him a bit, she'd just been on the other side of the room.  


"Come on, tell me." She nudged him with her hip and could barely keep a grin off her face.  
"Well, I mean, I... erm... don't know..I am no expert." Sidney draw through his hair but couldn't take his eyes from the painting.  
"As you keep staring at her, you must know if I hit her face well."  
"I don't stare at her..." He tried but failed to deny it.  
"You should really ask her for a date." Georgiana said in this know-it-all tone, which always reminded him of her mother.

"What, no I..."  


Georgina rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. She shook her head over her brother who was totally smitten and extremely stupid. When he turned to leave, she just meant dryly.  
"Take it with you."  
"What? No way!"He was shocked about her suggestion.  
"Okay, all right." His sister said with a wiping off hand gesture. "But if you sneak up here to stare at it, it might not be there anymore." She sauntered back to her work.  
"You talk in riddles." Sidney mumbled and took one last look at the picture.  
"Maybe I can find a buyer..."She said casually and of course she could not suppress her smirk.  


Damn it.She knew him so good. Sidney had to admit to himself reluctantly.  


Ha! Now she had him ready. Georgiana still heard him ranting to himself, but when she looked over again, the picture had disappeared.  
"Idiot." She shook her head at his silliness and wanted to make it her business to push him in the right direction.

After he had walked up and down his room like a caged tiger, he couldn't resist the urge to smoke a cigarette, it really wasn't funny anymore. Actually he had stopped, but since a certain person had moved in here, the urge had become so strong that he had bought a pack. He had had it for quite a while and he had only let it happen twice to smoke one. With one last look at the picture, he took a cigarette out of the pack and went out onto the balcony. The wind whipped in his face from the side and to light the cigarette he turned to the protective wall.  
Oh, no.

The little window was right at eye level. Apparently she had taken a bath, because the window pane was steamed up. Nevertheless, he could see her outline for a second. Although he turned away immediately, the sight burned into his brain. Her wet hair stuck to her back and her shapely buttocks turned into beautiful muscular legs. He had still seen her wipe the mirror with her hand before he ran back to his room. 

Since that day the relaxed atmosphere was history. Even Crowe, who usually didn't notice so much of subtle things, felt the change. Charlotte thought at first that Sidney was just having a bad day, but little by little she thought she might have done something wrong. Every time she spoke to him about it, he waved it away, stroked her arm briefly, leaving a burning path right into her heart, and changed the subject. On their movie nights, he usually sat in one of the armchairs and let the others take the sofa, and although she felt he was looking at her, she couldn't quite understand what his problem was. When their eyes met, in the semi-dark room, she thought she could see more in his gaze, but when she smiled at him, he turned his head away and the moment was over.

Because of the bad experiences she had in the past, she decided to get over her crush and tried to move on, but she couldn't.  


When Georgiana invited friends for her birthday, including James, her architect friend, Charlotte was glad to be distracted by his attention. So the next weeks dragged on. Whenever she had a brief encounter with Sidney, whether in the morning in the bathroom because one of them forgot to lock the second door, or in the kitchen, it was either icy silence or embarrassing stammering until one of them released them and walked out of the room.

When Georgiana and Sidney had invited some friends from London, Charlotte couldn't help but enjoy the evening, although it was still a bit strange feeling between her and Sidney. Every time glances met, she smiled at him and her heart made a leap when he returned the smile and let his eyes rest on her.

Sidney finally decided to talk to her, but was stopped by Eliza, a friend of Crowe's whom he knew only briefly. She'd had a bit too much to drink already and was shamelessly hitting on him. Sidney was quite annoyed and rude to her, but she stuck to his arm persistently. He was trying to figure out how to get rid of her. When he suggested she get her another drink, he fled to the kitchen. The sight of, what he saw there, hit him harder than he thought.  


Charlotte sat at the table, her hair hanging down like a curtain in front of her face. James sat beside her and whispered in her ear. It seemed very intimate and Sidney was seething with rage. Shit. It was too late. When he saw Eliza stumble into the kitchen, he bolted out onto the terrace. 

"Charlotte, he's an idiot. Don't let that spoil your evening." James tried to comfort Charlotte. She was heartbroken over that idiot Sidney Parker, was he blind or what?  
"He's just gone out onto the terrace," he explained to Charlotte, who didn't want to meet him under any circumstances. She was particularly emotional today, because she had unfortunately drunk too much too quickly and had seen him earlier with that stupid cow Eliza, who threw herself at him.  
"I need fresh air," she said while she got up and stroked her eyes.  
"Shall I come with you?"  
"Thank you, James, but I need a moment alone."

*

"Oh, James, can you come upstairs for a minute? I wanted to show you the design." Georgiana asked James, who then followed her upstairs.  
"Sure!"

Sidney was so annoyed by the stupid chick Eliza that at some point he just left her there on the terrace and went back inside. Charlotte and James were no longer in the kitchen. A really bad feeling came over him and he started to look for her in the living room and in the front garden, where some guests were gathered. Shit, were they a couple? Please. No! 

He ran up to his room to get his cigarettes, he really needed one now. When he got upstairs, he heard distinct noises coming from her room. He never thought she would be so loud, she seemed so shy, almost timid. He would never have believed that she would do it with him during a party. But what did he know? He was so sick, tears were burning in his eyes, he ran to his room. He ripped open the balcony door, he needed air. Breathe. Breathe.

When Charlotte snuck back into the house, she was glad everyone was so drunk, no one noticed her. She didn't feel like talking to anybody either. She ducked her head and ran to her room as fast as she could.

Caught up in her thoughts of whether Sidney with Eliza...would he...uh, she couldn't finish the thought, so over she became. She heard distinct noises from her room and the panic that he might have been mistaken in the room made her dizzy. She stormed into the room.

Sidney was so furious he crumpled up the packet of cigarettes. He needed something stronger to smother his pain and jealousy. Ignoring the noise from next door, he ran back to the living room and poured himself a big glass of whiskey. The party had really gone off the rails a bit, because the party guests were lying around everywhere. On the sofa lay three people he had never seen before. He made his way to the kitchen to get a water, because he just wanted to get drunk now and knew he would need it tomorrow.

Fixated on the fridge he overlooked Charlotte who was sitting on the floor and almost fell over her.

"Oh hi." He said irritated.  
"Hi." She didn't look at him.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Crow is in my bed with Clara and..."  
"Oh shit, really?" Sidney closed his eyes briefly, ashamed that he thought Charlotte had...  
"In his room are your friend Babs and his pregnant wife."  
"Sure, she can't sleep upstairs because of the fumes."  
"Yeah, I know." She brushed the hair out of her face, "plus, Georgina has her boyfriend here."  
"Hmm." Sidney's brain was overflowing, one bed left. The possibilities he now had to screw everything up or finally do what he had wanted to do since the day he first met her.

The two exchanged glances. But instead of saying anything, he just held out his hand. Charlotte grabbed it and he pulled her up.  
"Come on." He pulled her behind him, up the stairs and right into his room.

A bit shyly she took her hand away from him and he let her go in his room first. They looked at each other for a moment and then she pointed to the bathroom door and disappeared behind it. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. With hearts pounding, she went out and there he stood. In a grey t-shirt and darker sweatpants, and still he looked like a damn supermodel. 

"Here for you..." he put a shirt in her hand, he pointed to the bathroom and disappeared in it. Charlotte's brain was going crazy and her body was freaking out just at the thought of being in his room alone. 

She took off her shirt and top and put his shirt on, it smelled so good. She sat down on his bed to take off her pants and socks. For a moment she thought about whether she should leave the bra on, but she decided against it, it was just too painful. She put the clothes folded up on a chair and hid the bra in her top. She lay down in bed and waited.  
Quite the gentleman, Sidney knocked on the door before he entered. Embarrassed, almost shyly, he slowly approached the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Do you need anything?" his voice was rough and a shiver ran down her spine.  
"A new bed." The lump in her throat prevented it from being louder than a whisper.

He laughed for a moment and the tension became a little more bearable.  
Slowly, he lowered himself onto his pillow and pulled his blanket up to his stomach. Charlotte didn't know what to do. Just thank you and good night, or what?  
"Crowe has to buy it."  
"Yes."  
"And until then..." Sidney turned to her, and he let his eyes wander over her for a moment. He had to swallow before he continued speaking and rolled over onto his stomach, because if he could see correctly in the grey moonlight that glided in through the window, she was not wearing a bra. She looked at him expectantly. Her eyes looked even bigger than usual in the diffuse light.  
"You can sleep here as long as you want."

At his words her heart began to beat powerfully and she had to gasp for air with a little panting. Their eyes locked and he dared to put his arm over her belly. She gasped as he pulled her closer. His face was so close she could feel his breath on her neck. 

"Thank you," she breathed.

Sidney tried not to overwhelm her. So he resisted the urge to kiss her. He snuggled up against her as close as his position would allow and kissed her shoulder through the fabric of his shirt. He closed his eyes and enjoyed her closeness. It was like a dream.

"Sidney?" Her voice barely audible.  
"Yes?"  
"Why have you been so strange to me these past few weeks?"

Shit, he knew she was going to ask that. Just when he was snuggled up against her so nicely. He stiffened and was about to pull his arm away, but she held it down. She didn't want him to let go now. As this realization came through to him, he tightened his grip on her waist. Still gentle, but firm too. It felt good. Where his body touched hers, it was very hot. Sidney raised his head slightly and looked into her eyes.

"Don't you know why?"

Her breath was faster. Her lips opened slightly. Was she expected him to kiss her? 

"Tell me."  
"I'm in love with you."


End file.
